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While the premise for a film loosely based on a play based on the songs of a singing group from the 70's sounds admirable, the fans of each group will have something to complain about with this humorous little entry into the musical franchise. While I enjoyed the movie, I left the theater feeling a bit empty. The film is about Donna; (played by the marvelous Meryl Streep)
a working woman, who runs a two bit island hotel in the middle of Greece. Oh and did I mention she is a single mother? Yup, this little piece of drama will play itself out later in the play, I mean FILM in a few moments but when shown in the film version, it is hesitant and boring. As it turns out Donna's daughter (played by foxy little Amanda Seyfried) is getting married, after 20 long years without a father figure to look up to (or to enhance the plot, however you want to look at it.) Sophie rummages through her mother's diary for clues on how she came to be. While I find this plot device a little far fetched (who keeps a diary after 21 years? Honestly it just takes up space, and you can't make very many new entries can you? It should be full by then, toss it and fill a new one!) how does Sophie know which Diary to pick? I may be nitpicking here, but it is all a slight observation.
Moving on, Sophie soon finds out that her mother, being the tramp she was all those years ago, finds out that she has 3 potential fathers, Harry,(played by Colin Firth) Sam (played by the always charming Pierce Brosnan, of OO7 fame) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) after a moment of intense and erratic thought Sophie decides to invite the three men to her wedding in hopes of finding her real father. Donna, is shocked to find the three men after twenty long years in her goat house. (What, a small letter couldn't suffice? a phone call? The characters seem to lack certain social graces.) After a few peeks at the weathered travelers, Meryl breaks into song (Mamma Mia, here I go again) to say Meryl is a gifted performer would be an understatement and a crime on my part. She is Ravishing! Her dancing and subtle graces are a delight to see and this film has no problem embracing that talent. After a few moments of singing and dancing we move on to Donna having a panic attack, wishing the men would go away so she can continue preparing for her daughter's wedding. While she does this, Sam notices sees a bit of himself in Sophie, recognizes her obvious talents and contemplates the possibility of her being his daughter. While I won't spoil the rest of the film for you, I will highlight some of the film's better moments. Seeing Pierce Brosnan singing for the first time on film was a slight shock. I was quite impressed to be honest, he has a slight Irish twang to his voice and it weaves beautifully into song. Here's hoping he is able to land another singing gig sometime in the near future. Colin Firth who I have seen in previous films is a delight as well, he has a subtle charm that cannot be improvised and his singing is a delightful sort that keeps you warm on a breezy day. Stellan Skarsgard, an actor I am not too familiar with, (that and I am too lazy to research at the moment) is also amusing to see. Streep's old pals from across the pond are Rosie (Julie Waters) and Tanya
(Christine Baranski) The film itself has quite a bit of fluff, which is nice but tends to get in the way some of the time. The Cinematography is gorgeous at times, with Greek shores and an enchanting church set upon an escalated precipice above the water. There are a few scenes that look a little fake but again this could be my nitpicking again. Some of the characters are given a slight bit of unneeded depth whereas in the play they are not as deep as they are in the film. While this offers a few moments of amusement, I think it distracts from the overall narrative. That being said some of the characters are a bit annoying at times and I wish they haven't been given camera time. The song and dance segments are juvenile at best, while the vocals offer some good feelings, I didn't care about some of the choreography, too rushed and a flurry of clothing on incredibly fit bodies. All in all I liked the film, it is good for a few laughs, has a likable cast (for the most part) and a score that will keep you dancing all night.

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8.15.08

Yo,

Looks like I have been selected to be voted on for the Best of the Blogs feature on the site! Its great to see my work get recognized. and I hope all you who read this can find the time to vote for me to be featured on this site. For tonight's blurb, I am uploading an article that was posted as a preview piece quite a while back, and has remained in publishing limbo since the reelgamers.com/gamepartisan.com switch, and for sometime before then as well. Its another in my line of fan designed games, where I, of outspoken and demented mind, decide to list the qualities of games I would like to play into what is collectively known as a creative brief, giving a *hopefully* well-rounded picture of how my game idea would function.





I have been a fan of the Harry Potter books since my Mum brought them back from England a couple months before they crossed the shores. I was able to get a two-book head start before America got wind of the boy wizard and created an industry out of his exploits. I never seemed to participate in the majority of Potter-phile discussions however, and I am pretty sure it’s because I couldn’t care less about the characters of the book, especially in the first three volumes. Rowling’s character development skills had yet become the pinnacle of excellence she is now famous for (I’m pegging that down as beginning around the end of the fourth book.) People have forgotten that it wasn’t little orphan Boy Who Lived that first sparked our interest; it was the world that was introduced to Harry (and us) at Diagon Alley. Characters hit certain emotional responses with their archetypes, Harry: the pitiable unloved child and Hagrid: the gentle giant with the heart of gold; but it was the seemingly effortless combination of worldly mythologies that J.K. laid out, vast and beautiful, taking our foundational knowledge of each creature/myth and stitching a new canon of depth and, grit your teeth for the pun, magic. The characters we grew to love, hate, and write demented Slash fan-fiction of (Snape/Harry and male pregnancy?!?) were able to worm their way into our hearts because of this contradictory realm of fantasy grounded in reality.



The films of the Harry Potter-verse have been a momentous success due to their exploration of the characters and plot events, confined yet paradoxically free within the time and budget limits of cinema. Game translations, however, have seen less success because of their following along with the films, as they were developed to do, with no expansion of the narrative to include plot points uncovered in the movies or indeed, any expansive content whatsoever. The limiting of the game’s events, despite the medium’s much longer runtime, leaves the player with just a diluted rehashing of plot. Perhaps a video game that focuses more on the world of Harry Potter than Harry Potter’s girl troubles would be better suited for this medium and its audience, allowing for expanded narratives on the Magical (and by extent, Muggle) world, that which was only hinted of in Rowling’s texts. There, of course, will be development of characters, but removing J.K.’s universe from its titular teenagers would be the best thing that could happen to it. Grab a pint of Butterbeer and a Cockroach Cluster; let’s make a Harry Potter game without Harry Potter.

***



Before we get to assigning companies to the task, let’s get a good idea of our game, and what mechanics we need for it to work better than the movie tie-ins. The game will be the first in a series, focusing on the player’s first year at the famous school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with subsequent years being released as separate titles and/or downloadable content. So the player will essentially be taking over an 11-year old at the game’s beginning, with each game taking place a year of the character’s life. This would be a perfect mainstay title for online game clients like Steam. Each new episode will open up the world with a new location from the books or programmer’s imagination, and offer up new play options within the world, tied in with the character’s “age.” For instance, like in the books, when our player downloads the Third Year of our Hogwarts game, “elective” classes like Care of Magical Creatures will be available alongside the regular class schedule, and Hogsmeade Village will open up as one of the new locations.

Pushing Harry Potter and most of the other title characters off to the sidelines is a necessary component if we are to get the player focusing on just what a great fantasy world Rowling has created, and to avoid being called “just another Harry Potter game.” This is not as difficult as you may think. According to the Harry Potter Lexicon, the events of Harry’s seventh and final year around the Hogwarts campus takes place in 1997-1998, meaning setting our game in the current, post-Voldemort would free us of meeting most of the characters, at least in a major sense. Plus, it would act as a nice post-mortem, hopefully better than the official epilogue, seeing all of our old favorites as NPC encounters living out their adult lives. This also allows for the player to focus on taking his own character and finding his place in the Hogwarts timeline.

Character Creation


The longer it takes our players to model a character, the more they will connect with it, but will also put in the option to bypass a lot of this if they have no patience

Borrowing from Elder Scroll’s creation hubs, we will feature an in-depth yet user-friendly character creation menu at the game’s onset, after the fabulously CG opening cut-scene (all other cut-scenes will be in-engine, in order to best feature the player’s character and all its individual goodness.) Note that all of our cut-scenes will be SKIPPABLE. Back to character creation, our mode will feature previously-designed bodies, in addition to a blank-slate for complete customization, for player’s not wanting to spend two hours fixing their brow-line. Aside from the thousands of character options, we will have a “smoothing” feature, that which will take the player’s design and “smooth” it to make it look the most human, avoiding the problems that plague Oblivion’s NPCS, all of which have facial flaws that make it look like they are the latest generation of an incestuous family. For example, a player that molds his kid to have a longer jaw-line will hit the “smooth” button to have it coordinated with the character’s cheekbone and other parts of the head in the best possible way, while keeping the player’s choice as apparent as possible. Once the character’s design gets final approval by the player, she/he will have the option to map out this character’s “aging” during the in-game year, meaning you can select this character to have a growth spurt or a change in the voice (deepening, breaking.) Some of this will not come into play in the first game, obviously. These options will not include bodily or hair growth, as we do not want to focus too much on the more private aspects of puberty (the Japanese-only Dating-Sim version will take care of that.) The player will also be prompted that, during game-play, if certain battle objectives are fulfilled (such as number of battles taken part of, what occurs during a battle) the character will scar and receive other (semi-)permanent blemishes that will affect his character’s appearance, and will remain visible in cut-scenes. Directly after selecting their characteristics, the player will then select a character archetype. This means a blood class, a socioeconomic factor, and relations with other creatures of Magical/Muggle abilities (ex. Pure Blood, upper class family, elitist towards Magical community, etc.) Based on their selection, combined with their character's appearance/stats, they shall begin the game in one of our set starting points (Pure Blood Pretty = pride of family, lives in upper-class district, Pure Blood Ugly/Liberal = shame of family, lives in poorly maintained room in upper-class district.)




Plot



Once the player finally gets on Platform 9 3/4, the general overarching plot can be thrown in full blast. Of course the full plot outline will be slowly played out across all seven years, but each game will have set “boss” encounters and a “Final Boss.” For an extended example, I shall weave together a plot I wouldn’t mind playing through in the Potter-verse. At entrance to Hogwarts, the player will be introduced to the Warloches, a unit of magic-school graduates and volunteers that act as extra protection to the still rebuilding magical academy. Included in this task force (all available to be befriended by the player, which merits the character more scenes, battles, and environments) are Roger Davies (former captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, Fleur Delacoeur’s date to the Yule Ball), Malcolm Baddock (a former Slytherin student), Heathcote Barbery (guitarist for Wizard band: “The Weird Sisters”, working off community service requirement after accidental use of magic at first and only Muggle concert), and Dennis Creevey (younger brother of Colin Creevy), among others. Dennis Creevy later offers the player one of the most magical items the player will receive throughout the series (and the only one in this game,) the Enhanced Camera, magically optimized to work at Hogwarts and acts as an upgradeable weapon, with a flash that stuns enemies and snapshot attack that can be customized to freeze, damage, and later instant-kill a specific group of enemies. The meat of this plot begins when, after inspired by a gnome attending classes at Beauxbatons (the French Hogwarts), one of the centaur parents within Hogwarts’ forest sends their daughter to secretly attend classes taught at night on the grounds. Once word hits the Ministry of Magic, the classes are canceled and the Centaur child and her parents banished from the castle grounds. This opens up a can of worms, when Centaurs and other magical species begin demanding why they have never been allowed to attend magic school, and why they are seen as inferior in the magical community (causing centuries-old rivalries to be brought to the surface, and several Rights movements and other organizations to begin forming *think S.P.E.W.*)



This political plot will continue throughout the series (leading to a former main character being named the new Minister of Magic), and will act as a distraction to the more insidious plot, which involves the upper-class Bather family revisiting the old haunts of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, attempting to bide their skills and acquire enough dark magical items/abilities to gain back the power their family lost at both Voldemort and the Malfoys’ fall from grace. The main villain of this year will be Peeves the Poltergeist, who becomes controlled by an outside source somehow connected to the Bathers, and wreaks havoc on the students and faculty until stopped by the player. But, like in the books, the plot will be revealed steadily, in between classes and various social encounters, the only available club during the first year (as other clubs are forbidden by Hogwarts in first year) is attending Dumbledore’s Army illegally, risking punishment by wandering around/attending the meetings. The player will have the option of signing up for clubs and apply for future high ranking school positions (like Prefect) in this game between classes as well. Taking a few leaves from the big-ass book of open-world gaming, players will further the plot only after completing set story missions, the rest of the game-play centered on exploration and side-quests.


Design


Imagine this style of gameplay, with a magic theme and high pace twist

Classes will be the main stays of the series: Potions, Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts, etc. The best example of a “school schedule” system to which we can build off of would be Rockstar’s “Bully,” where the player can reap the benefits of a set class by entering its respective building at some point during the courses’ run time (for example, get to the Dungeon sometime between 9am-11am in-game time to take a Potions class,) players will be aided by a time-keeping icon (an hourglass, perhaps) in the top corner in order to track their class schedule. Classes will be optional to attend, but the character will be able to increase his stats by attending and mastering a series of increasingly difficult class sessions.


Our game will be so badass, it'll make going to school fun

Days will be broken down according to the two-class-a-day system in the books: Morning Class, Lunch/Mission, Afternoon Class, Dinner/Mission, Evening Free Time, Sleep or Night Mission. The character would have an over-world to traverse, with points of interest highlighted in usual fashion; depending on the hardware of the each system, as much of the environment as possible will be interactive. Every room in Hogwarts castle mentioned in the book series will be available, with rooms opening up with each installment. At breaks in the school year, the player will have the option to return to his home, go with friends to a new location either in the Muggle or Magical world (based on the opposite of the character’s created personality), or stay in Hogwarts with slightly restricted access and free exploration all day.


Gameplay


Choose Your Adventure, with a Soul

Before our players reach the hallowed gates of Hogwarts, we will have them participate in an inadvertent selection of kid’s basic morality, like an advanced version of the system utilized in the original “Fable.” For instance, having a series of actions that feature multiple outcomes (not just good or evil) based on the speed and result of the player's decision (i.e. a Half-Blood child being picked on in the street; the character could leave the child, help her, beat up the bullies, walk away, join in the bullies, etc.). In addition, we feature the dialogue choices each carrying a moral outcome, for instance being snotty towards adult figures or cheery and friendly towards those of similar age, “Bard’s Tale” attempted this system with varied results. This could take place in the summer months after the player receives her/his acceptance letter, before boarding the train at King’s Cross. The tutorial of game could follow the character purchasing his supplies for school (trying out wand selections while in-shop, etc.) Our player will have the option of selecting the breed (as well as the general physical features in a more compact customization hub) of their pet (Owl, Raven, Bird, Toad, Cat, Small Lizard). When selecting a wand (as it is an important plot point) they will use a simple interface of a couple pre-determined wands of different attributes, one of which always being their “destined” wand. Players will also have the option to “create” a wand by selecting different qualities and having enough match up to their destined wand’s attributes (length, wood type, featured magical commodity.) When speaking to other characters, an interface similar to “Mass Effect” will appear, with each dialogue option carrying a certain emotional weight. For examples of how a character can be befriended, see “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3” and its expansion “Persona 3: FES.” Side quests will feature discovery quests (requiring a certain place of the map to be reached and recorded), battle quests (where a specific enemy must be found and defeated), and various other missions based on skills gained in class. Magic battles will either be turn based or active time (player’s discretion,) with each spell requiring a different input to be cast, usually in regards to the spell’s effects (levitating spell will require the analog sticks to be raised in time with an on-screen prompt, etc.). These spells can be accessed through completion of classes, or specific side missions. Missions and classes also yield stat increases; like the general Speed, Power, and Stamina stats; and social abilities like Charisma and Fame. New features will merit new game-play mechanics, but for now, the basics will suffice for the proposed 10-15 hour runtime.

Game Genre: Action-Adventure / Role Playing

Developer: Bioware, in association with Lionhead Studios
- Considering both Black Isle Studios and Troika Games (my two original choices) were faded out due to financial trouble and their lead company, Interplay, coming across troubles of their own, we are left to rely on two leading teams of both action-adventure (Bioware’s “Jade Empire”, Lionhead’s “Fable”) and role-playing (Bioware’s “Mass Effect”, Lionhead’s “Black and White”) titles. And with Bioware currently developing a Sonic turn-based RPG for the DS, we know at least one of them likes to take chances.

Lead Designer: Chris Avellone
- His attention to detail and story development is unrivaled in the industry (there are over 8,000 lines of dialogue in Planescape: Torment, not to mention the ridiculously complex multi-verse game world.) Sure, most of his experiences are with engines based off of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons mechanics, but certainly, with the help of various Harry Potter Historians at his side, he can oversee a game with decisions not based on a dice roll… (Designer credits include: Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale [I and II,] Baldur’s Gate [and Dark Alliance I and II,] and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)

Game Producer: Jade Raymond
- It takes keen intellect and strong business savvy to make a game simultaneously set in the twelfth century and distant future, and Jade Raymond oversaw “Assassin’s Creed” go far beyond its estimated gross, due in no small part to the smart outsourcing of footage strewn together into some of the most enticing trailers ever for a video game. Plus, I think just getting that infectious laugh of hers on television made money for that game (and thus ours)…

Rating: E-10, for ages ten and up (for now, certain year milestones will see an increase in rating), maybe an optional T-rated version?

Platforms: PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 (the engine requirements of such a massive world would need a strong system, with the Xbox 360 probably requiring multiple disks)

If this article gets enough feedback of either positive or negative respect, I shall continue updating this project idea with future years and their respective mechanics

If God is omnipotent, why did he ever have to rest, especially on the fabled seventh day?

We all know the question, if you choke a smurf, what color does it turn. My question is, why the fuck are you choking the tiny dude, your like 50 times his size! If you really want to kill him, why don't you just stomp the crap outta him?

Would the one ring work if you used it anywhere other than your finger? What if you made a nose ring out of it? Or dare I say another piercing, one down much lower and dealing with a certain Prince...?

I find it hilarious when a rather nationalistic, patriotic American constantly references the Statue of Liberty as the ultimate American icon, as if they don't remember that it was a gift from the supposed Anti-America, France.

News

- Some little kid was outside fiddling with my AC unit tonight, and the bastard ran away when I confronted him. I knew he did something, as I heard the thing hiss as he tinkered with it. I'm pretty sure its this kinda shit that is making me pay more every month on my utilities. We are the only house in the development with a unit street-side, and the security guys so far haven't done anything...bastards.

- Filming for Slick, the last film I'll be doing for FPS Riverside, begins this Sunday. Weee.....

- I got a severly painful hangnail in my right ring finger, the bastard is making it hurt everytime my fingertip touches something, makes it rather difficult to type....

- The pot I got as part of an 80 dollar kitchen-in-a-box set from K-Mart has officially crapped out on me, which makes it difficult to cook until I get another, which I have no money for. But hey, nothing like teflon shavings in the mac and cheese, right?

- My roommate and I had to return some ground beef that went bad way too early, and got a whole new slab of the stuff as compensation. Makes me remember that making a fuss in a public sphere, be it a restaurant or a grocery store, usually gets pretty good results, as the establishment would rather pay you to shut up than deal with the noise. Being an asshole has gotten me pretty far...

- As always, check out my best friend for-longer-than-forever, Bennett the Sage's, pad here on TGWTG (he is also under selection for the Best of Blogs, under the video submitters,) or be checking out his funny stuff on Youtube or alongside myself on Gamepartisan

- I've become addicted to something on Youtube called Asshole Mario, its all about this guy that got his friend to play through some crazy-ass modded levels of Super Mario World, you need to check this out, they are impossible. Imagine having to play through the now-famous techno fan-made Mario level, but with it designed to kick your ass. My favorite part is what I like to call the death montages, were it cuts together all the times the player dies in quick succession. Sweetness in a cup.

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Well, I'm bored as shit waiting for "9 PM CST", so here's my top 25 best video games of all time. Why top 25? Because I seriously need to get laid.

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#25: Rock Band for the Xbox 360

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6.25.08

Yo,

Here's a piece that I wrote after I came across the hundredth person to tell me that, "if you have all these great ideas for movies, right them the f*ck down!"

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